A cross country adventure 3 days and 1,010 kms to Ormoc

Twenty-four months as a Road Team gave us the confidence to do a road adventure.

THE ISUZU TROOPER 4x2, crosses the San Juanico Bridge, connecting Samar and Leyte.

We would drive to Cebu Island and explore its tourist spots uninvited and unannounced. We just wanted to walk into a place, pay our way, and trust our instincts. Yes, we hoped we would get good service along the way.

So we had no appointments to announce ourselves anywhere; no hotel reservations to assure us we had a “home” for the night; no ferry reservations; no service crew.

We only had a map and a route plan of about 1,500 kilometers from Manila to Cebu Island, exploring the island from the center to the north, the southwest, southmost point, southeast, and back to Cebu City.

This was going to be Manila Bulletin’s Cruising Cross Country Year 2 with the Isuzu Trooper, fueled by Caltex Power Diesel, and on-line with Smart Communications.

Our Home Team – Mary Anne, Johannes, Christopher and Sheila – used the phones and the Internet extensively to survey the places we would pass through. We asked the help of friends of friends to check our “flight plan” for accuracy in plotting travel time.

Day One was Monday, April 23. The weather forecast was not very encouraging: an inter-tropical convergence zone was expected that day in the Bicol Region. Otherwise, it would be the usual summer weather in the rest of Luzon.

Otherwise, it was a good time to drive out of Metro Manila. We all needed to relax – and the second anniversary issue of Cruising had to be completed. Aris had the beginning of a cough; my sinus headaches were starting to stay longer; and Anjo looked like he needed a long walk.

Despite the cross country drive coming up, we hardly had time to meet, or talk, about details. The Road Team – Aris Ilagan, Anjo Perez and me – kept in touch by text and fax messages.

Like seasoned cross country travelers, we took to our tasks before starting on Day One. I woke up at 5 a.m., was on the road by 5:30, picked up Aris by 6:20 and was in Anjo’s driveway by 6:45.

Without a word of greeting, the three of us started unloading the Isuzu Trooper, which I had loaded with our stuff the night before. Anjo stacked the things according to its frequency of use during the journey. The icebox, for example, had to be nearest the passenger sitting at the back, and should not be covered by anything heavy. The ladder (for pictorial) had to be secured in the back row, so that it will not hurt anyone should the roads become a little rough. The maps, notebooks, route plans, cell phones had to be in the seat pockets, easy enough to be located.

And the three cameras and variety of lenses had to be neatly piled on the floor, behind the driver’s seat, an arm’s reach of Anjo, who was the first navigator.

By 7:30 a.m., we were at the Alabang exit, entering the South Luzon Expressway. We had a heavy breakfast at Deli France at the Shell Service Station a few kilometers away because lunch would be just before we enter the Bicol Region.

It was no problem getting out of the SLEx that Monday morning. The countryside was not anything new by now. We had done several Road Series articles in Batangas and Quezon in the last 24 months. Before we knew it, we were on the exact spot we did the first pictorial last year. The captivating scene of the curved coastline, the concrete highway winding towards the silhouette of the mountains of Quezon Province again made us stop for the first pictorial of the Isuzu Trooper.

Since we seemed to be attracted to the same landmarks, our next stop, about two hours later, was at the KBP Restaurant where we also had a delicious lunch last year.

The restaurant manager, Babes Dayao and her husband, Totoy welcomed us like celebrities. She said a group had stopped by her restaurant with a copy of last year’s cross country story, on their way to retracing our path. Aside from them, others have stopped by KBP for lunch claiming to have read about its cuisine from our story.

Last year, we had walked into this restaurant on the hill in Calauag, Quezon (just before you enter the town proper). A cafeteria-style dining establishment where you order from a variety of cooked food behind a counter, encouraged us to taste regional delicacies.

If you miss KBP Restaurant on your way to the Bicol Region, don’t worry. There are several restaurants along the same highway. But don’t miss filling up your tank in the Caltex Station at the right side of the junction of Calauag and the Bicol Region. The gas stations along the way are now a considerable distance apart.

Calauag is the last town of Quezon province before you cross the boundary to Bicol Region which you will enter through Sta. Elena, Camarines Norte.

Trooper rolls off a ferry at the Matnog port.

If you had set your trip meter to zero as you exited Alabang to the SLEx, at km 232 you will turn right to Quirino Highway. This relatively new highway will save you 92 kilometers of travel compared to the old route which passes through Daet, Camarines Norte.

Not too far away (for us), at km 265, we were driving through the marker of Camarines Sur.

If we were first timers in this part of the country, we would waste some time looking for landmarks to confirm that we were on the right route. All of the welcome arches – without exception – that would announce a town or province’s name to travelers, were covered by campaign posters or banners. Even kilometer posts which serve as a guide on distances towards a town, were not spared. In some places, some die-hard campaigner had pasted the posters to entirely cover these concrete slabs. (At least no one did that to the Km 1,000 marker near Ormoc, which has become a regular pictorial site for us.)

In the absence of such landmarks, we trusted our maps and our sense of direction. (We suggest that town councils pass a bill prohibiting the covering of these road signs and impose big penalties on those who do so.)

We noted that the roads to the Bicol Region were now well paved, particularly a major stretch in Sipocot town which last year kept us on the road an hour longer than expected. There are only a few patches of repair ongoing, but the road cuts are not as sharp and deep as last year’s.

In Legaspi

Because of the better roads, we reached Legaspi at 6 p.m. (last year it was at 8). But we did not get into the town proper until about 7p.m. because we missed a sign and turned right leading us to Daraga town, which we remembered to be where you enter the winding roads leading to Sorsogon. We asked the jeepney drivers for directions only to find out we had driven out about 7 kilometers away from Legaspi City.

It was easy to find La Trinidad Hotel in the middle of the commercial area, where we also spent the night of our Day One in Cruising Cross Country, Year 1. We were met by a front desk clerk who refused to smile during the whole routine of checking us in, and a room that did not have a welcome smell.

Day Two: Luzon to Visayas

The next morning, we were up at 5 a.m. and after re-arranging the things inside our vehicle, we drove off at 5:45. Our tripmeter read, km 479.

The weather was fine. I had prayed that it would not rain while we were to cross the Bernardino Strait from Matnog, Sorsogon, to Allen, Samar.

We nearly missed the Philtranco ferry at 8:30. I had miscalculated the distance and travel time to Matnog. And I had been fixated on the 9:30 a.m. ferry which we took last year. This time, we planned to take the 8:30 ferry to give us more daylight while traveling straight to Tacloban.